Contender: Kristina Varaksina

The art of photography is my strongest passion. I believe its impact on people cannot be overestimated. I live in New York, NY. I hold a MFA in Photography from Academy of Art San Francisco. I often come to San Francisco and Moscow, Russia. I love traveling, observing how people live in different parts of the world, what their concerns are. Life around me is an infinite source of my inspiration.

Story behind the shot: The image was shot in New York, NY. The portrait is a part of an editorial inspired by the Swedish film Let Me In. It’s about alienation and feeling different from the rest of the world; a loss of communication as it often happens in adolescence.

Favorite moment during the shoot: My favorite moment with my team was when it started raining outside the window.

Biggest challenge: In shooting the entire series, the biggest challenge was building sets and lining up everything into a perfect composition.

How do you define your style? My style is emotional portraiture with attention to shot design.